Avoidance
Avoidance is a character's ability to avoid a physical attack, taking no damage at all. This is done automatically when the character dodges, parries, blocks or deflects. Compared to mitigation, it is unreliable, but due to being based on luck could "kick in" and result in strings of zeroed attacks as much as it could fail entirely. Brawlers tend to use avoidance instead of mitigation, all Scouts use avoidance, and many classes can equip a shield for situations where the arrows and blades are really flying. Methods of increasing avoidance are increasing Defense, Parry and Deflection. Some equipment can help, mainly shields, and some buffs can also add avoidance. Shields have a Protection value that determines how much Block % they will give. Equipping a shield takes up your secondary weapon slot, so you cannot use an offhand weapon or a two-handed weapon and a shield at the same time; you can switch equipment at any time though if you wish to switch between damage and safety, which might be helped with a macro. In order of effectiveness at blocking: * Tower shields can usually be used by Warriors and often Crusaders. * Kite shields can usually be used by Warriors and Crusaders. * Round shields can usually be used by Rogues, Predators and Bards and the above. * Bucklers can usually be used by Clerics, Druids, Shamans and the above. Avoidance is shown as a percentage in a PC's Persona window, indicating the chance the PC has to avoid an attack from an average enemy of the same level. The actual chance to avoid an attack depends on the enemy's level and offensive skills. Hovering your mouse arrow over the number will display the following: Avoidance You have a % chance to avoid an attack from a level # opponent. *Base: % *Block: % *Parry: % *Deflection: % The top percentage is a multiplier of Base, Block, Parry and Deflection 1-(1-Base%)*{1-Block%)*(1-Parry%)*(1-Deflection%). It will always display the character's chance to avoid an attack from an equal level opponent. It is unknown whether level of the enemy directly affects the chance of avoiding their attacks, or if the reduction is an estimate based on white mobs' basic attack skills. *Base is directly affected by the character's Agility and Defense; when base avoidance is successful it is a dodge. *Block requires a shield, and is affected by the Protection of your shield. *Parry requires and is affected by the Parry skill; parries can be ripostes. *Deflection requires and is affected by the Deflection skill. Ripostes are a special type of parry which are immediately followed by a counterattack with the defender's weapon(s). Assumedly, avoiding attacks has one advantage over mitigating them; if the attack is a combat art/special attack that has a debuff of some kind, avoiding it would also avoid the debuff, but mitigating it would not. In a theoretical situation where a mob could insta-kill you in one blow, avoiding would obviously be better. Finally avoidance runs on different numbers than mitigation which is subject to diminishing returns, so even if avoidance also has diminishing returns, building up avoidance along with mitigation might be more effective than just mitigation. Unknown: Does avoiding a combat art from another player in PVP cause the reuse timer to activate? Whether, and when, avoidance is superior or inferior to mitigation is a matter of importance to all fighters and scouts. Category:Terms